Sean McVay reveals advice he gave Rams coaches before interviews

When you’re the brightest young coach in the NFL, keeping assistants around can be tough. That’s exactly what Sean McVay is learning with the Los Angeles Rams the past two years with many of his coordinators and assistant coaches garnering interest from teams for their head-coaching vacancies.

Both quarterbacks coach Zac Taylor and pass-game coordinator Shane Waldron will take interviews for openings around the league, continuing on Friday when Bengals executives fly out to L.A. to meet with them. Taylor already had his interview with the Broncos and will talk to the Cardinals, as well, while Waldron’s lone interview so far will be with Cincinnati.

This comes less than a year after McVay lost Matt LaFleur and Greg Olson, his former offensive coordinator and QBs coach, respectively. McVay doesn’t want to see Taylor or Waldron leave, but he’d be very happy for them if they did get opportunities elsewhere.

He’s given them some advice heading into their big interviews, and in his press conference Thursday, he revealed what he said.

“I think just be yourself. Be confident. Don’t try to force the issue. I think just make it more of a dialogue than anything else – it is a conversation,” McVay said. “You’re interviewing for a job, but you also want to be able to find out some answers to help gain a perspective on the type of situation that you would be going in to. Just relax and enjoy it. It’s a great opportunity to be able to do this. All you can do is compete to the best of your ability like we talk about all the time. That’s really all I’ve said.”

Last year, LaFleur was interviewed for the Titans’ head-coaching vacancy. The job went to Mike Vrabel, who nearly led the Titans to the playoffs, but LaFleur still wound up in Tennessee with him.

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The Titans hired him to be their offensive coordinator after talking to him about the head-coaching gig, prying him away from L.A. McVay was asked if he fears teams like the Bengals, Cardinals and Broncos will try to hire Taylor or Waldron as coordinators if they don’t get head-coaching jobs.

“I think last year was pretty unique situation,” McVay said. “Really, each situation we deal with as its own individual entity. I think there’s specific criteria and circumstances that are surrounded based on the individual, what’s best for their family and some of the options that are presented. Some of that is exclusive to the teams that they might be going to. So, I don’t think so because – I don’t think you ever want to handle one situation with, ‘This is exactly how we do it.’”

McVay wants to give his assistants the chance to better their careers, whether that’s elsewhere or in L.A.

“If it’s something that we can provide a better opportunity or something that makes it enticing to want to stay, then that’s what you look into,” he added. “But, I don’t think you worry about that. I think these are positive problems that guys are getting great chances and usually it’s a reflection of our team’s success.”

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